Customer Reviews

Getaway Girl (Silhouette Bombshell)

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After her friend dies in a suspicious car accident, getaway driver Jamie MacAlister spends a few months in mourning. When she is ready to move on with her life, she decides right her past wrongdoings by working for the good guys.

And so Getaway Girl (Silhouette Bombshell) by Michele Hauf begins with a roaring rescue operation and never slows its rapid-fire pace.

Jamie, code name La Lapine (French for `the rabbit'), a Scottish lass with a penchant for fast cars, thinks by working as a driver for The Faction, she'll be helping the good guys on rescue operations against the bad guys--The Network, her former employer. But in a world where thugs and supposed `good guys' operate beyond the boundaries of the law, how can Jamie really know she's working on the good side?

Enter sexy Sacha Vital, son to an evil man famous for his unsavory criminal activities. Sacha is rich, dangerously good-looking and deliciously flawed with his fastidious habits and his odd anger-management techniques. And though he's trying to separate himself from his father's nefarious business, Jamie suspects he's up to no good. But she decides she must join forces with Sacha in order to learn if he, or someone else, is responsible for the death of her friend.

While the strong characters make the story, Hauf's details of everything from Paris street scenes to delectable pain au chocolat and expensive cars are exquisite. If I had the money, I'd be out shopping for a BMW 3 series in Barrique Red right now. (Though I think my husband would opt for the Bugatti Veyron.)

Hauf's research is impressive, resulting in amazing imagery throughout the novel.

Getaway Girl is an exciting, fuel-injected race through the narrow streets of Paris with a heroine whose desire to be good conflicts with her love for fast cars and dangerous men.

I had been sent some books to read and review, but GETAWAY GIRL by fellow Nocturne author Michele Hauf immediately screamed to get picked up!

I was not disappointed by this action-packed book about a former illegal race car driver who has turned to a new profession -- getaway driver. When the pick up of a kidnap victim goes south, Jamie McAlister finds herself in a bind that her speed skills may not help her escape.

This was a great read and totally interesting as it turns out that the one man Jamie may have to rely on is none other than sexy bad guy Sacha Vital! Be sure to getaway with Jamie on this thrill ride of a novel.

This was a great, fast reading book. High points for action, adventure and while it is sexy, it isn't in your face. Very hard to put down - so I didn't until I finished it! I don't believe in giving the plot away in a review so buy it for yourself! Can't wait to find out what happens next to the remaining characters.

I was excited to read this book because I enjoyed Hauf's installment in last years "It Girls" series. The book starts with a bang: an independent, no-holds-barred heroine who didn't apologize for anything: especially the fact that she was the driver of getaway cars for shady characters. The action flows, there's minimal backstory to clog down the pace, and the heroine remains consistent.

But here's where the book falls apart. The pace and the consistency of the heroine flags in the second half of the novel. A major part of this is due to the character of Sascha Vital. Vital is given a POV, being introduced to us first as a menacing villain. Because of his POV, not only is there's a decidedly lack of suspense when he crosses paths with the heroine, but his status as the "hero" is confirmed by the second instance of his POV in the novel. His own reasons for his path crossing with that of the heroine's was trite and uninteresting. The more time the heroine spent with Vital, the less consistent she became until she became your average rom-susp "girl on the run". The introduction of Kevin added a bit of punch until he was revealed to be the someone other than what he claimed: and he was still vanilla after the revelation!

The heroine went from being independent and in charge of her sexuality, into someone who was promiscuous for the sake of being promiscuous--and it made her seem foolish. The spectacular character Hauf created in the first half of the book had disappeared into a confused, forlorn mess. I wouldn't have minded her confusion had Vital been a true bad-guy instead of being a faux-villain, but he wasn't, and it was this, coupled with the fact that he irritated me, that made this book a labourous read. And in the end, Vital and the heroine "fell in love" because they kept reminiscing about their night of mind-blowing sex. Talk about a major let-down. (The fact that I can't even remember the heroine's name, other than La lapine shows how disinterested I became as I read, and how irritating Sascha Vital became to me).

I just felt that this book fell apart because of the overemphasis on establishing a "relationship" between the heroine and Vital in the second half of the novel. If the focus had remained on the heroine and her fight for a better life, and happening to fall for a man who lived on the grey side of life on the way, Getaway Girl would have been an excellent novel.

Fasten your seatbelts, ladies. You're going for a ride and author Michele Hauf is no Sunday driver. She takes us on twists and turns, slams us back against the seat, and leaves us clinging to the armrest, quivering with anticipation. Her heroine, Jamie MacAlister (code name La lapine), is a getaway car driver in Paris. Jamie loves cars. Her father Ewan MacAlister, a mechanic, taught her about cars. Max Montenelli, her mentor in crime, taught her to drive getaway cars. Life taught her to drive fast, very fast.
Eventually Jamie decides to go straight and Getaway Girl opens with the delivery of a rescued princess -- Jamie's first driving job for the good guys, or are they? Things go awry fast. Everything in this book goes fast! Who are the good clients? Who are the bad? Even more important, who is the good bad guy and who is the bad bad guy -- dimpled Kevin Grant or the dangerous Sacha Vital? Which of them leaves Jamie quivering?
Getaway Girl is a fast paced, cleverly plotted, sexy romance that will leave you looking for sequels. More adventures with Jamie, please!

Having been the getaway driver for thieves and having worked on the underground racing circuit, Jamie MacAlister feels good that she is using her skill of driving at high speeds for the side of justice. Her first assignment in Paris working for the Robin Hood like Faction is to help with the rescue of a kidnapped woman. She succeeds and feels good about being on the right side, not necessarily of the law, but the right side.

However, as she does more work for the Faction, she begins to question whether she miscalculated the Faction's motives especially after meeting "client" Sacha Vital, son of a dangerous criminal. Jamie wonders if she has been naive and set up, but by her employers, another group or perhaps Sacha. If she is to stay alive, out of jail, and keep the latest victim herself safe, Jamie has one option and that is to trust Sacha.

This terrific thriller keeps the audience on edge wondering just like the lead female who is the good guys and who is the bad dudes. The fast-paced story line accelerates from the first time Jamie drives the getaway car that seemingly rescues a young woman and never slows down as she begins to realize nothing is simple as nothing is what it first appears. Sacha is a fabulous counterpoint as readers will ponder whether he is the villain, hero or in between. Michele Hauf provides a one sitting romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner